JPH11183484A - Automatic analyzing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic analyzing apparatus which can dispense a reagent by breaking a seal of a reagent container without using a special cutting means. SOLUTION: A seal shutting an upper opening is attached to a reagent container 1a, 1b which has the upper opening at an upper end to which a nozzle can enter and a recessed part storing a reagent including at least a liquid part. A CPU 10 controls a test body transfer means to dispense test bodies to a reaction container 7a. The CPU 10 controls a reagent transfer means 40 to lower a nozzle 43. When the nozzle 43 breaks a seal 3 during the fall process, the nozzle is further lowered to enter a reagent 4a in a reagent container 5a. After a required quantity of the reagent is sucked in the nozzle 43, the reagent is dispensed to the reaction container 7a. A reaction result is measured by a measuring means 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer for analyzing body fluids such as blood and urine, and more particularly to a reagent dispenser for reacting with a sample. The present invention is suitable for applications in which the performance of a reagent is maintained and a highly reliable analysis is performed until immediately before use.

[0001]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic analyzer for analyzing body fluids such as blood and urine is used to react a body fluid as a sample with a reagent corresponding to an item to be analyzed after performing a dilution or separation process as it is or as appropriate. The reaction result is measured by an appropriate measuring means. Here, the reagent to be reacted with the sample is desirably stored in a sealed state so as to be shielded from an external atmosphere such as temperature, air, light, etc., in order to secure a certain reagent performance. When a reagent is stored for a long period of time as a means for sealing, it is often completely sealed in a glass container with a lid made of a highly durable material such as silicone rubber. However, the only way to remove the reagent from the completely sealed reagent container is to remove the lid or perform suction with a syringe needle. Therefore, in automatic analysis, means for sealing a reagent container with a suitable breakable seal member has become widespread in order to facilitate removal of a reagent. For example, automatic analysis can be performed using a reagent container having an upper opening through which a nozzle can enter, a concave portion containing a reagent including at least a liquid portion, and a seal closing the opening to shield the reagent from the external atmosphere. As an apparatus for performing the measurement, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-2
18755 and JP-A-62-119460. In a conventional analyzer, at the start of an analysis, first, all seals of a reagent container are sequentially broken using a dedicated cutter, a punch, or the like, and then the reagent is dispensed in a predetermined order.

[0002]

In the conventional analyzer, even when a plurality of reagents are dispensed in order, the seals of all the reagent containers are broken at the start of analysis or at the initial stage. The reagent may be affected by the external atmosphere such as temperature, and the reactivity may vary. Moreover, in an apparatus in which a plurality of reagent containers are selectively arranged at a dispensing position by an appropriate transport means, there is a possibility that the reagent in the reagent containers may be scattered before use.

In addition, since the seal is broken by using a dedicated breaking means, an arrangement space for the breaking means, a driving mechanism, and a driving man-hour are required. In particular, since the seal of a different reagent container is broken by sharing a dedicated rupture means, a reagent attached to a dedicated cutter or the like is brought into the reagent when the seal of the next reagent container is broken. There was also a possibility that a normal analysis result could not be obtained due to the contamination. In this case, it is extremely difficult to sufficiently clean the breaking means so that the contamination can be ignored. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic analyzer that solves the above-mentioned problems at once.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an automatic analyzer according to the present invention comprises an upper opening through which a nozzle can penetrate, a recess accommodating a reagent containing at least a liquid portion, and a reagent containing the reagent. Using a reagent container provided with a seal to close the opening to shut off the external atmosphere, a reaction unit for accommodating a sample and a reagent to be analyzed through an introduction opening capable of introducing a liquid and performing a reaction, A transfer unit having a nozzle for transferring at least a reagent to an introduction opening of the reaction unit, a measurement unit for obtaining a reaction result performed in the reaction unit, and the transfer unit breaks a seal closing the reagent container and And a control unit for performing control to introduce the reagent in the reagent container into the reaction unit.

Here, if the transfer means is further provided with a replaceable nozzle, and this nozzle is configured to break the seal of the reagent container, control is performed so that contamination is not caused by replacing the nozzle. Is preferred.

The transfer means comprises a sample transfer nozzle and a reagent transfer nozzle, and the nozzle for breaking the seal of the reagent container is the sample transfer nozzle. It is preferable to control so as not to cause contamination.

[0007] Further, a plurality of reagent containers for individually accommodating a plurality of types of reagents are arranged, and the control unit selectively transfers the plurality of types of reagents to the reaction unit in accordance with an analysis item. Is preferably controlled for a plurality of reagent containers so as to obtain various reaction results for the same or different specimens.

Further, the reagent container is provided integrally with a plurality of storage sections partitioned for each of a plurality of types of reagents, and the control section selectively supplies the transfer means to the plurality of storage sections in the reagent container. Is preferably controlled so that contamination does not occur even in the same reagent container.

Next, the operation of the present invention having the above configuration will be described. That is, the control means operates the transfer means so that the tip of the nozzle of the transfer means breaks the seal of the reagent container. Next, the transfer means for dispensing the reagent is made to enter the recess from the upper opening of the reagent container, and the reagent is introduced into the reaction section while a required amount of the reagent is sucked and held in the nozzle. If the transfer means for breaking the seal has a further replaceable nozzle at the nozzle tip, it is replaced with a new nozzle after the seal breaks and a predetermined dispensing operation. In addition, if a replaceable nozzle is provided for the sample transfer nozzle and the seal of the reagent container is broken by the sample transfer nozzle, the sample transfer nozzle is always replaced for each sample, and the reagent transfer nozzle is used. The necessity for a replaceable nozzle is eliminated.

Further, various reaction results may be obtained by selectively introducing a reagent corresponding to an analysis item from a plurality of reagent containers accommodating a plurality of types of reagents into a reaction section. Even when a plurality of types of reagents are partitioned and stored in one reagent container, each reagent can be dispensed without causing contamination in the same reagent container. When the seal is broken by a nozzle that does not use a replaceable nozzle, the tip of the nozzle may be washed before the seal is broken and dispensed for different reagents in order to avoid contamination of the sample and the reagent.

In the present invention, a body fluid such as blood or urine is used as a specimen. Further, the reagent stored in the reagent container is usually stored in a liquid state, but may be stored in a dry state on the assumption that a liquefied solution is poured immediately before use in some cases. Also, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 4-218775 and 7-26
As in No. 702, the reagent component may include a solid on which a reactive protein (eg, antibody, antigen, etc.) is immobilized. The sample may be provided to the reaction unit in advance, or may be introduced from a predetermined sample container through an introduction opening of the reaction unit. The order in which both the sample and the reagent are introduced does not matter. However, the efficiency of the dispensing operation may be improved by further aspirating the reagent after the sample transfer nozzle that has aspirated the sample breaks the seal of the reagent container. The reagent container for storing the reagent may have a space capable of storing a required amount of the reagent, and may preferably be made of a material suitable for storage. That is, for a reagent for which light shielding is desired, both the reagent container and the seal may be made of a light-shielding material or color. The configuration of the reaction section may be appropriately selected according to the measurement means. In addition, the measuring means may select an appropriate one for the analysis item from the amount of transmitted light, the amount of fluorescence, the amount of emitted light, the turbidity, the sedimentation image, the electrochemical amount, and the like.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A plurality of sample containers 2a, 2b, 2c such as test tubes each containing a sample 1a, 1b, 1c to be measured.
(Three in the figure) are held at the rack 3 and arranged at a predetermined sample suction position, and are arranged and exchanged with a plurality of different racks sequentially by a sample container transport mechanism (not shown).

Reagent containers 5a and 5b (two in the figure) respectively containing a plurality of kinds of reagents 4a and 4b (two kinds in the figure) exhibiting changes that can be optically measured by reacting with the sample are provided with predetermined reagents. It is located at the suction position. Each reagent container 5a, 5
An aluminum seal 6 for sealing is attached to the upper opening of b.

A reaction vessel 7a for performing a reaction and a measurement is disposed between the sample suction position and the reagent suction position, and a reaction (not shown) is performed so that the injection of the sample and the reagent is performed at an appropriate timing. A plurality of different reaction containers are stopped at the same position by the container transfer device, and the reaction container 7b containing the test solution 8 into which the sample and the reagent are injected and mixed is moved to the measurement position of the measurement device 9 after a required reaction time has elapsed. Are sequentially stopped or passed. The reaction vessels 7a and 7b are preferably made of a light-transmitting material when the measuring means 9 is a means for performing an optical measurement such as an absorbance, a fluorescence amount, and a light emission amount. However, like the aggregation image determination,
When the measurement means performs measurement without passing through the wall surface of the reaction vessel, it is not necessary to be light-transmissive. The measurement results obtained by the measurement means 9 are totaled and / or determined by the CPU 10 as a control unit, and then displayed on the display of the image display means 11 such as a CRT or an LCD.

Next, a sample transfer means 20 for dispensing a sample is arranged above the sample suction position where the sample containers 2a, 2b, 2c are arranged. This sample transfer means 20
Is a syringe pump 21 for performing a fixed amount dispensing, a flexible channel system 22 such as a rubber tube connected to a pressure communication portion of the syringe pump 21, and a nozzle connected to a tip of the channel system. 23, an arm 24 supporting the nozzle 23 and having a linear slide 25, a timing belt 26 fixing the arm 24, a pulley 27 for transmitting a driving force to the timing belt 26,
A vertical movement motor 28 for driving the pulley 27, a support member 29 supporting the pulley 27 and supporting the motor 28, a timing belt 30 fixing the support member 29, and transmitting a driving force to the timing belt 30. And a horizontal movement motor 32 for driving the pulley 31.

At the tip of the nozzle 23 of the sample transfer means 20, a plastic disposable tip 33, which is a replaceable nozzle for each sample, is mounted. Since a plurality of the chips 33 are held in the chip holding section 34 in advance, they are on standby until they are replaced for the next sample dispensing. In addition, the chip 33 after dispensing a certain sample
Is configured to be detached and dropped into the chip disposal tank 35 before dispensing another sample.

Here, the power of the vertical movement motor 28 is
It is sufficient that the load torque is such that the tip of the nozzle 23 can be stably held by the nozzle 23 by fitting the tip 33 downwardly toward the tip 33 on the tip holding portion 34. The amount of force for mounting the tip can be relatively small because the change in elasticity of the tip 33 also helps the holding force.

A reagent transfer means 40 for dispensing a reagent is disposed above the reagent suction position where the reagent containers 1a and 1b are disposed. The reagent transfer means 40 includes a syringe pump 41, a flow path system 42, a nozzle 43, an arm 44, a timing belt 4
6, pulley 47, motor 48 for vertical movement, support member 4
9, a timing belt 50, a pulley 51 and a motor 52 for horizontal movement. Here, the power of the vertical movement motor 48 must be so strong that the nozzle 33 breaks the aluminum seal 3 attached to the reagent containers 5a and 5b. Here, as the aluminum seal, for example, when the outer diameter of the nozzle tip is 1 to 2 mm and the seal is formed by laminating a film-like plastic film with aluminum foil, the load torque is 500 g or more, preferably The load torque may be set to 550 to 650 grams, particularly practically around 600. Such competence is
The lower limit is a value at which the seal starts to be broken based on the outer diameter of the nozzle and the material and thickness of the seal. If the value is larger than this lower limit, it is not necessary to set the upper limit particularly in the dispensing operation. However, an optimal value may be appropriately set so that a mechanical load is not applied to a driving mechanism such as a motor of the transfer unit. Also,
Considering the repetition of a plurality of breaking steps for the aluminum seal 3, the nozzle 43 of the reagent transfer means 40 is preferably formed of a material (reinforced plastic, metal, or the like) having a strength at which the tip of the discharge is hardly deformed. .

The reagent transfer means 40 differs from the sample transfer means 20 in that a replaceable nozzle is not mounted at the tip of the nozzle 43. This is because contamination between reagents has a smaller effect than contamination between specimens, and thus can be repeatedly used by washing the inner and outer walls of the nozzle. The nozzle 43 can be cleaned by repeatedly sucking and discharging the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank 61 containing the cleaning liquid 60.

The various driving parts (syringe pumps 21 and 41, up and down movement motors 28 and 48, and horizontal movement motors 32 and 52) of the sample transfer means 20 and the reagent transfer means 40 are C
It is controlled by the PU 10. The various controls performed by the CPU 10 can be set via appropriate input means (keyboard, mouse, touch panel, etc.) and code reading means such as a barcode attached to the sample container. In addition, prior to aspiration in the dispensing operation, the sample containers 2a, 2
As means for detecting various liquid levels in the reagent containers b and 2c and the reagent containers 5a and 5b, air is continuously discharged or sucked from the syringe pumps 21 and 41, and pressure is changed by an appropriate pressure detection sensor (not shown). Is preferably detected.

In the analyzer configured as described above, first, the CPU 10 moves the sample transfer means 20 up and down so that the timing and the dispensed amount correspond to the desired analysis item in accordance with the analysis information input in advance. The drive motor 28, the horizontal movement motor 32, and the syringe pump 21 are drive-controlled. Thereby, first, the nozzle 23 is moved to the chip holding portion 34.
The tip 33 is attached to the tip of the nozzle 34 when it is lowered toward the tip 33 after being horizontally moved to just above the tip 33. Next, the nozzle 33 is horizontally moved and stopped above the desired sample container 2a as shown in FIG. next,
After lowering the nozzle 33 until the required amount enters the sample 1a in the sample container 2a, the syringe pump 21 operates to aspirate the required amount of the sample, raise the nozzle 33 again, and move horizontally to the upper part of the reaction container 7a. After that, dispensing the sample is completed by discharging the sample. After dispensing the sample, the nozzle 33 is horizontally moved to above the chip disposal tank 35, and then the chip 33 wet with the sample is dropped into the chip disposal tank 35 by a separation mechanism (not shown).

On the other hand, the CPU 10 controls the vertical movement motor 48, the horizontal movement motor 52, and the syringe of the reagent transfer means 40 so that the timing and the dispensed amount correspond to the desired analysis item in accordance with the analysis information input in advance. Pump 41
Drive control. Thereby, first, the nozzle 43 is horizontally moved right above the reagent container 5a to be dispensed, and then the nozzle 43 is lowered. At this time, the nozzle 43 continues to descend further after breaking the seal 3 in the descending process and penetrates the required amount into the reagent 4a in the reagent container 5a. Nozzle 4
After directly sucking into the reaction vessel 3, the reaction vessel 7a is dispensed.

Here, the process of breaking the seal 3 on the reagent containers 5a and 5b will be described in more detail. First, the motor 48 for vertical movement transmits power to the pulley 47, the timing belt 46, and the linear slide 45. Then, the nozzle 43 is lowered to the reagent 9 to be suctioned. During the downward movement, the tip of the nozzle 43 abuts on the seal 3 attached to the reagent container 5a. At this time, the force of the vertical movement motor 48 is applied to the tip of the nozzle 43 via an intermediate drive system. The force at this time is set to be sufficiently larger than the force at which the seal 3 starts to break. That is, the seal 3
Has a structure that starts to be broken when an appropriate force is applied, so that it is necessary to set the force so as to be sufficiently larger than the force at which the seal 3 starts to be broken determined according to the material and thickness of the seal 3. The nozzle 43 controlled to be lowered by such an amount of force does not stop at a position where it abuts on the seal 3, and further breaks through the seal 32 at the tip of the nozzle 43,
It directly enters below the liquid level of the reagent 9 to be aspirated.

Next, after the tip of the disposable chip 4 has descended by a depth corresponding to the suction amount with respect to the reagent 9 in the reagent container 10, the suction pump 1 is operated to suck a required amount of the reagent 9. . When the suction of the reagent 9 is completed, the vertical movement motor 7 is reversed, and the nozzle 3 is raised. The sucked reagent 9 is transported to a predetermined position of the analyzer by the transport mechanism 12, and is dispensed into a reaction container 13 in which a sample is stored in advance. When the required reaction time has elapsed,
The measurement of the reaction result is performed by an appropriate measuring means 14, and the analysis is completed. On the other hand, the disposable chip 4 used for sucking the reagent is discarded by the discarding mechanism 14. Thereafter, a new disposable chip is mounted by the chip mounting mechanism 15 and the above-described operation is repeated, whereby a plurality of types of reagents can react with the same or different samples.

As described above, since the means for breaking the seal of the reagent container is broken by the nozzle for sucking the reagent without using a dedicated cutter or the like, the arrangement space, the driving means, the driving control and the number of driving steps can be reduced.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a reagent pack integrated with a reaction container and a reagent container which can be suitably used in the automatic analyzer of the present invention. That is, the reagent pack 70 includes a cylindrical first reagent storage section 72 for storing a first reagent 71 for performing a plurality of reactions on a sample in a stepwise manner, and a second reagent for storing a second reagent 73. It comprises a storage section 74, a cylindrical reaction section 75, and a seal 76 attached so as to cover all upper openings of these cylindrical containers. Such a reagent pack 70
Are prepared in accordance with the analysis items, and instead of the reagent containers 4a and 4b and the reaction containers 7a and 7b of the apparatus described with reference to FIG. 1, they are sequentially transferred by the same reaction container transfer means as the reaction containers 7a and 7b. I do. Here, the power of the vertical movement motor 28 of the sample transfer means 20 is set to a value sufficient to break the seal 76 as described above.

When performing an analysis using the reagent pack 70 in the apparatus configured as described above, first, the CPU 10
However, as described above, the nozzle 2 of the sample transfer means 20
After the tip 33 is attached to the tip 3, a required amount of the sample 1 a in the sample 2 a to be analyzed is aspirated into the tip 33. Next, the nozzle 23 is moved horizontally just above the first reagent storage section 72, and then the nozzle 23 is moved down, so that the first
Only the seal 76 at the portion corresponding to the reagent storage section 72 is broken by the tip of the tip 33, and is then lowered to the first position.
When the required amount of the chip 33 has entered the reagent 71, the lowering is stopped. Next, the drive of the syringe pump 21 is controlled, and the nozzle 23 is raised so as to be pulled up from the first reagent storage section 72 at the time when the suction of the required amount of the first reagent 71 into the tip 33 is completed. Here, in the nozzle 33, the sample 1a to be analyzed and the first reagent 71 are sucked in order. If necessary, the syringe pump 21 is slightly driven between immediately after the suction of the sample 1a and immediately before the tip 33 enters the first reagent 71, and a small amount of air is sucked to the tip of the tip 33, and then the first Reagent 7
By aspirating 1, a partition may be formed between the sample and the reagent by air. Next, after the nozzle 23 is moved horizontally by one container pitch directly above the cylindrical reaction part 75, the corresponding part of the seal 76 is similarly torn at the tip of the tip 33 to slightly When you invade,
By driving the syringe pump 21, the required amounts of the sample 1 a and the first reagent 71 are simultaneously discharged to the reaction section 75. Sample 1
The nozzle 23 that has finished dispensing the a and the first reagent 71 removes and discards the chip 33 in the chip disposal tank 35 in the same manner as described above.

The first reaction occurs when the sample 1a and the first reagent 71 dispensed into the reaction section 75 are appropriately stirred and incubated at a constant temperature for a required time. First
When the reaction is completed, a washing treatment for B / F (bound / unbound) separation is appropriately performed, and then, as described above,
The sealer 75 corresponding to the second reagent storage part 74 is broken by the reagent transfer means 40 so that a required amount of the second reagent 73 is removed.
Is controlled to be sucked into the nozzle 43 and discharged into the reaction section 75. The result of the reaction by the second reagent is measured by the measuring means 9 optically measuring the reaction part 75 of the reagent pack 70, and is displayed on the display means 11.
The reagent pack 70 after the measurement is collected in a collection box (not shown). Thereafter, similarly, automatic analysis of multiple samples and multiple items by a large number of reagent packs 70 is efficiently performed.

In this example, since the tip 33 from which the sample has been aspirated is also used for dispensing the reagent, there is no contamination between the reagents by replacing the tip 33 with a new tip 33.
In addition, since the chip 33 is frequently replaced each time the sample is changed, the seal 3 is not repeatedly broken by the same chip 33, so that the durability of the chip 33 against the break can be ignored. Further, since the sample and the reagent are aspirated into the common chip and discharged to the reaction section, the reagent transfer means 43 itself can be eliminated or reduced, and the end time of the dispensing can be shortened. it can.

FIG. 3 shows an improved tip 33 as a replaceable nozzle adapted to break the seal of the reagent container. That is, as shown in FIG. 3A, the tip portion 81 of the tip 80 has a sharp shape as if it was cut obliquely in only one direction. Chip 80 having such a configuration
Is attached to the tip of the nozzle for reagent dispensing, and the reagent dispensing as described above is performed, the breakage of the seal of the reagent container becomes much easier, and the amount of downward force of the nozzle can be minimized. it can.

As shown in FIG. 3B, the tip portion 83 of the tip 82 has a point-symmetrically convex conical shape with respect to the center of the tip. Even if the tip 82 having such a configuration is attached to the tip of the nozzle for reagent dispensing and the above-described reagent dispensing is performed, the seal of the reagent container is easily broken, and the tip 83 Since the discharge opening coincides with the horizontal plane, the dispensing performance, particularly the discharge accuracy, can be kept constant.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified. In other words, in this embodiment, the motor, the timing belt, and the linear guide are used for the vertical movement drive. Of course, the effect can be expected, so it is good.

It is of course also possible to use a nozzle itself to break the seal without using a disposable tip and suck the reagent. In this case, since the cleaning is originally performed by using a function necessary for cleaning the nozzle after the suction by the analyzer, it is needless to say that a cleaning mechanism does not need to be added by adding a function of breaking the seal.

In the above example, the sample transfer means 20
And the reagent transfer means 40 are configured to dispense various samples and reagents to the reaction container 7a at the same stop position, but the form of the transport line of the reaction container (belt conveyor, rotating turret, etc.) The number and arrangement positions may be variously changed so as to efficiently arrange them at different conveyance stop positions as appropriate according to the conditions. Alternatively, a large number of each of the reagent containers 4a, 4b and the sample containers 2a, 2b, 2c may be prepared and transported on a separate rotating turret.

In FIG. 3, the shape of the discharge tip of the disposable tip, which is a replaceable nozzle, is modified. However, as shown in FIG. May be similarly molded.

In the above example, the reagent transfer means 40
Nozzle 43 (or nozzle 23 of sample transfer means 20)
Vertical movement motor 48 (or 2
Although only the load torque of the motor is increased in order to increase the power of 8), the acceleration torque related to the descent speed of the nozzle may be increased in some cases. If necessary, the seal may be broken by combining the load torque and the acceleration torque of the motor.

[0037]

According to the present invention, a dedicated cutter or the like for breaking the seal of the reagent container is not required, so that the apparatus configuration can be simplified and the apparatus can be downsized. In addition, cleaning of a dedicated cutter, etc. is unnecessary, reducing the amount of water used for the device,
It is possible to reduce the cost of analysis per test. In addition, the amount of waste liquid from the apparatus is reduced, so that it is possible to reduce adverse effects on the environment. In addition, when a disposable chip is used for the nozzle, it is possible to completely eliminate bringing the previous reagent into the next reagent container, and it is possible to improve the analysis accuracy. Furthermore, by combining the operation for breaking the seal and the suction operation, the takt time (cycle time) of the apparatus can be reduced, and the analysis processing speed can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a reagent pack suitable for use in the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a chip suitable for use in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a, 1b, 1c Sample 2a, 2b, 2c Sample container 3 Rack 4a, 4b Reagent 5a, 5b Reagent container 6 Seal 7a, 7b Reaction container 8 Test solution 9 Measurement means 10 CPU 11 Image display means 20 Sample transfer means 21, 41 Syringe pump 22, 42 Flow path system 23, 43 Nozzle 25, 45 Linear slide 24, 44 Arm 26, 46 Timing belt 27, 47 Pulley 28, 48 Motor for vertical movement 29, 49 Support member 30, 50 Timing belt 31, 51 Pulley 32, 52 Motor for horizontal movement 33 Chip 34 Chip holding part 35 Chip disposal tank 40 Reagent transfer means 60 Cleaning liquid 61 Cleaning tank 80, 82 Chip 81, 83 Tip

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Haruhisa Watanabe 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A reagent container having an upper opening through which a nozzle can enter, a concave portion for containing a reagent containing at least a liquid portion, and a seal for closing the opening to shut off the reagent from an external atmosphere. A reaction unit for accommodating a sample and a reagent to be analyzed through an introduction opening capable of introducing a liquid and performing a reaction, and a transfer unit including a nozzle for transferring at least the reagent to the introduction opening of the reaction unit, Measuring means for obtaining a reaction result performed in the reaction section,
A control unit for controlling the transfer means to break a seal closing the reagent container and to introduce a reagent in the reagent container into the reaction unit. 2. The automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the transfer means further comprises a replaceable nozzle, and the nozzle is configured to break a seal of the reagent container. 3. The sample transfer nozzle according to claim 2, wherein the transfer means comprises a sample transfer nozzle and a reagent transfer nozzle, and the nozzle for breaking the seal of the reagent container is the sample transfer nozzle. Automatic analyzer. 4. A transfer means in which a plurality of reagent containers respectively accommodating a plurality of types of reagents are arranged, and the control unit selectively introduces the plurality of types of reagents into a reaction unit according to an analysis item. The automatic analyzer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the apparatus is configured to control a plurality of reagent containers. 5. The reagent container is provided with a plurality of storage sections partitioned for each of a plurality of types of reagents, and the control section selectively transfers the plurality of storage sections in the reagent container to the plurality of storage sections. 5. The automatic analyzer according to claim 4, wherein the operation of the automatic analyzer is controlled.